5/8/19

After posting "The Floating Garden" last time one of my fans wrote and asked if I could make some more "solid" backgrounds. I'm going to assume he meant something a bit more minimal. This one is for him. Created using Gaea (for the foreground) and Lightwave 2019 (the planet). Rendered using Vue Enterprise.

Speaking of Bucephalus, he's starting to get a bit long-in-the-tooth to do the sort of work I want to do. For starters it cannot run a video card newer than Nvidia 900 series and 3D tech has evolved considerably. I have my eye on Threadripper workstation (my first non-Xeon steed) and if you would like to make a preliminary contribution towards this cause you can do so via my Tip Jar. Thank you!!

After rendering five multiscreens I started to get the familiar itch to create something new...

Here's an update to the 2012 Floating Garden. Where those pillars were more man-made looking, I've gone for a more natural look here. The pillars here were actually created using Plant Factory and they use Vue's "Solid Growth" tech so each is randomized.

4/15/19

Fired up Mandelbulb3D for the first time a long long while. It's such an incredible program, capable of geometry that would bring a more traditional 3D program crashing down. So many programs, so little time...

4/10/19

I created this one as an exercise to learn a new landscape modeler called "Gaea". After seeing the incredible images of California's "superbloom" I thought it would be interesting to add wildflowers to the mix. Still trying to decide if I like the results though.

I used Gaea's ability to generate different "flow maps" to place the different colored blooms. I see a lot of potential with this software and this is just the start :-)
Hope you enjoy it!!

4/8/19

Here's another version of "Chisen" that I put together on Bucephalus. It's a bit brighter than the first version (which I've deposited into the Pickle Jar for now).

The new version of Vue has a weird tendency to render my 8K renders with different atmospheric settings than the 1080p preview renders. This has caused a bit of a slowdown in my workflow as I get it figured out. Thanks for your patience!

3/23/19

I wasn't quite satisfied with Pali v.1 so I've been tinkering with it on my Bucephalus workstation during Shadowfax renders. This new version has a bit more drama I think in both the background and foreground.

3/21/19

I played around with my Vulcan scene a bit before moving on and created this snowy version. I'd originally planned for it to be a Pickle Jar only render but after sharing it on social media a lot of folks thought it deserved its own place in the gallery. Let me know what you think!

3/15/19

I recently picked up a copy of "DOOM" for the PS4 from the bargain bin and I have been enjoying it quite a bit. It's been so much fun that I was inspired to create something of a "hellscape" terrain of my own.
The title is a homage to one of my very first 3D renders which I created around the time the original DOOM was still being played.

I used Oculus Medium to create the landforms and Zbrush to add some detail. The sun was created using Apophysis while experimenting with floral forms.

3/11/19

The past week or so I've been digging in trying to learn all the new ways to do things in Lightwave 2019. I used LW2019s node graph and new sphere primitive to model our homeworld, using new high-resolution satellite imagery.

After I got the planet model looking decent I was feeling frisky so I modeled an "orbital installation" using Plant Factory. The cells house solar collectors which generate limitless energy.

It also works for St. Patty's day! I've posted one of my earlier "planet only" renders in the Pickle Jar for folks who might prefer that view.

2/20/19

Another piece inspired by our recent visit to the Hawaiian islands and by the snowy winter here in the Heartland. I created this one basically for my own sanity but also this one is for the folks who wanted to see "more mountain" in my Mauka render :-)

I used World Machine and Gaea to create the mountains. I used Lightwave to create the rainbow texture. I then applied it to an alpha plane in Vue for a more "3D" look than the built-in rainbow.

2/9/19

My first render using Apophysis since 2017. Back then I created piece called "Cynosure" after following a tutorial on creating fractal flowers (with quite a bit of deviation). I'd meant to do a few more but got sidetracked for whatever reason.

I started from the same basic steps for this one but went for a more traditional flower look. I'm still deciding if I like the "sparkles" or not. What do you think?

Since both Shadowfax and Bucephalus are busy rendering I developed this one on Ian's gaming computer while he was at school.

I will be working hard to clear my slate of multiscreen versions going forward and Terra Mechanica should be ready sometime this weekend.

If you really want me to dedicate all of my energy to making multiscreens please hit up the Tip Jar My new signups always fall when I am not posting "new" renders so that tends to chase me back to the drawing board.

2/1/19

While there I learned about the concept of makai and mauka. Makai means "towards the ocean" and mauka means "toward the mountains" and the words are used to tell folks which side of the road something is on. I could do a whole year of Hawaiian themed renders but the first two I wanted to attempt were a representation of the Makai/Mauka dichotomy.

The first image, "Mauka", looked towards the mountains and now this scene looks toward the ocean. I chose not to use palm trees here, but rather tried to represent the "Monkey Pod" trees which are non-indigenous but beautiful.

All in all I am pretty much in love with Hawaii. I will return to the subject later :-)

Dedicated to my lovely wife Jessica on her birthday!!

If you've enjoyed my work these past 20 odd years much of the credit goes to her.

I will be working hard to clear my slate of multiscreen versions going forward and Terra Mechanica should be ready sometime this weekend.

If you really want me to dedicate all of my energy to making multiscreens please hit up the Tip Jar My new signups always fall when I am not posting "new" renders so that tends to chase me back to the drawing board.

1/30/19

After posting "Breath of Spring" yesterday enough of you expressed curiosity about my new project that I've decided to get send it out there.

As the afterglow our trip to Hawaii faded and the reality of winter set in, my thoughts took a bit of a darker turn. This piece was born out of working with the new Plant Factory to create inorganic looking structures. It was created and rendered entirely on my Bucephalus workstation while Shadowfax worked on something else (which should be finished soon).

1/29/19

For the record, I created this scene back in September 2018. I held onto it thinking I would come back and make some revisions.

Fast-forword to January 2019 and this past week I've been working on something dark that pretty much reflects my mood atm with regard to Illinois in the wintertime. I looked at that image, which I was planning on posting today, and decided to hold off. It might accurately reflect my mood, but with a new Polar Vortex bearing down on us I felt the need to post something warmer.

This scene was an experiment with learning Plant Factory's new "Flower Node". If I had to do this one over I would probably cut back on the depth-of-field a bit :-) I hope you enjoy it and stay warm (or cool) wherever you are!

1/17/19

While there I learned about the concept of makai and mauka. Makai means "towards the ocean" and mauka means "toward the mountains" and the words are used to tell folks which side of the road something is on. I could do a whole year of Hawaiian themed renders but the first two I wanted to attempt were a representation of the Makai/Mauka dichotomy. As this image looks towards the mountains, expect the next in the series to look towards the ocean.

1/10/19

"Greenmire" is new in the gallery this evening. I actually started this one before we left on our trip and hoped it would render and be finished when we returned. It was indeed finished but I still wanted to tweak a few things so I held onto it for a bit.

I am already working on a new image (or series of them) inspired by our visit to Maui. Stay tuned!!